Preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games - Public Accounts Committee Contents

3 Delivering the promised legacy

11. Providing a lasting legacy was central to London's
bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and encouraging
people to participate in sport is one of the key themes of the
promised legacy.[27]
In 2008, the previous Government set Sport England the target
of increasing the number of adults participating in sport by 1
million by March 2013. To date, despite £450 million spent
through National Governing Bodies, only 109,000 new people are
regularly participating in sport.[28]
The Department told us that the Government will announce a new
approach to encouraging sports participation in early 2012.[29]

12. The Department told us that the current government
is committed to increasing participation in sport, and, in particular,
increasing participation in sport through the School Games.[30]
However, the Department told us that Ministers have chosen not
to adopt the target of 1 million more participants in sport and
have not put in its place any quantified target. Consequently,
it is now unclear what the scale of the Government's ambitions
in terms of sports participation are, and what the sports participation
legacy will be.[31]

13. It is not clear who, if anyone, will be responsible
for overseeing the delivery of the legacy. The Department told
us that responsibility and accountability for delivery of the
legacy is shared across many different parts of government. For
example, responsibility for the Olympic Park Legacy Company is
expected to transfer to the Mayor of London in April 2012, whereas
the sports legacy is the responsibility of the Department for
Culture, Media and Sport.[32]
The Department was unable to quantify what funding has been set
aside by London boroughs for the socio-economic regeneration of
East London, and in the current economic climate such funding
must be regarded as uncertain, but did point to some progress
already made, such as the opening of the Westfield shopping centre.[33]